jinisu

For all it’s hype (well, Batali’s), Esca is nice and reliable, but not great. If you love your seafood untampered with, this is NOT the place to go (just go buy great seafood from a market somewhere and dump it in some boiling water, or better yet, have it raw, you lazy bastards). They do great carpaccio, and remember not to stray from seafood. Fish is flippin fresh, but flavour combos are ubiquitous – think butter, lemon, parsley and the like. But hey, no one said classic’s not good. Service is friendly and the atmos is Ame-refined, with dark timbers and white linens.

i am dying to give this place 5 stars. great sushi and sashimi, great service, low-key vibe… but they cooked my toro and didn’t think of giving to me as sashimi!!
also, omakase is NOT a must, if you are clear about what you like and are reasonably well acquainted with jap cuisine. a word of warning – if you’re looking for a totally authentic jap experience (à la tsukiji), then this isn’t the place for you – they will put unconventional (but often very fitting) sauces on your sashimi.

perfect pastas, casual environment, good wine list, buzzing vibe, none of that LA velvet rope madness. what’s there not to love?

Very bistro – in every way, from food to decor to service. A very nice wine list (they also own City Wine Shop next door), and food is solid and reliable – I think I’d call it up-a-notch-comfort food. No linens, just good ol’ mahogany tables and classic bistro chairs, slightly elbow to elbow, at lunch the crowd is mostly corporate bore, but dinner is more varied (not that you’d really converse with the diners next door, or would you?!) and is just as popular with the penthouse dwelling platinum retirees as the artsy young thangs who might continue the night upstairs at the Supper Club, or Double Happiness or New Gold Mountain, all up the ‘slopey’ end of the City.

I wish I’d travelled to enough places to say that Daniel Chirico makes the best bread in the world – well, all I can say now is that of all the bread I’ve eaten around the however many places I’ve been, this is THE best bread I’ve even eaten. Of course, I stand to be corrected, but before you dump a whole load of other bakers’ addresses on me, try this one. Really. (And go early or there won’t be a single crumb left – in which case, pray that they have some nougats left, they’re very, very goooood.)

Quintissentially Melbourne. Dark wood, bookish, hole-in-the-wall, communal tables, killer coffee, and slightly aloof service.

Babka is forever my all-day breakfast spot in Melbourne, as well as my ‘local’ bakery. Their shoo fly buns are amazing – if you want to make me eat raisins, this is the one and only form I’ll eat it in. The genius who thought of adding orange puree into the dough is, well, a friggin genius! French toast made with their challah (so filling you won’t eat anything else all day), fiery fuschia borscht, homemade baked beans on toast… make me want to zoom back to Melb right this very second!

The city’s Italian stalwart. Classic, old-school decor, that never goes out of style, but is certainly better kept for that special occasion. The complete anti-thesis to the “shared dishes” and “minimalist decor” thing, everyone’s doing, although, being Australia, it’s not uptight, just comfortably refined. Dishes are seasonal and listen up for the specials, because they are, really, always special. The indecisive and starved should go for the degustation. While pricey in Melbourne standards, you’ll be much more poorly if you tried to get an experience like this anywhere else in the world.

Excellent hole-in-the-wall-ish patisserie, with feather-light, buttery-soft pastries (I have to try and stop using hyphens…) Tarte aux pommes is great, and coffee is silky-rich, i.e. not the usual American brew that you can keep drinking all day like water, thank goodness.

Best cookies on the face of the earth. OMG, their choc and cherry cookie – ooohhh, ahhhh, mmmm!!!! Forget about sex, have a dozen o’these instead.